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User blog:Willbachbakal/Custom Patch Notes/Champions/Marksmen
Marksmen are a class that have come into their own as the game matured, and are now a staple, if not the staple, in every team. While the permanence of marksmen is likely something that needs to addressed (who could replace an AD Carry?), a larger and bigger issue is that of many marksmen essentially being treated as vessels for big items. The marksman changes in Preseason 6 addressed this full-on and gave many the niche and flavor they deserved, along with far more interesting itemization, but there are still several left that present classic marksman issues, or simply problems innate to their kits that prevent them from realizing their fantasies successfully. This section was initially made prior to patch 5.22, and many of the changes that happened then addressed the problems outlined here, but marksmen as a class still have a lot of room for improvement. The overarching goals for the marksman changes below are the following: Unique Gameplay Niches= Currently, there are a lot of marksmen out there that link to a very strong theme: is the game's sniper, is the ice ranger, is the close-quarters shotgun brawler, and so on. However, some of these themes aren't executed nearly as well as they could be: for example, , who's meant to be forever bound to her sworn allies, tends to act on her own. Additionally, many marksmen end up providing very similar strengths to their team (e.g. pushing and objective taking power, tank-busting DPS), which makes deciding between them often more a matter of success rates and scalings than proper strategy. While ultimately all marksmen should likely be good at laying down consistent damage from a distance, that leaves a ton of room for each ADC to express their own playstyle in a manner that is completely distinct from any other's. |-| Unique Stat Expression= A big issue with many marksmen is that they're frequently given on-demand free power, often in the form of raw stats, and that their kits as a result lack true moments of success or unique strength. In the worst case, some ADC kits are deficient to the point of almost being empty, simply because they're expected to have most of their power focused on items. The biggest offender here is , whose kit feels tremendously weak simply because he blows up in the late game with a full build and his various stat bonuses that pad out several of his abilities, and even champions like have a lot of power placed on on-demand stats when they could express it in far more interesting ways, which creates an issue of poorly visible power as well. In the end, each item has to make sense on a marksman beyond just offering necessary AD carry stats, and stats on marksmen need to feel truly interesting and rewarding, even if it comes at a cost to on-demand steroids and general power. |-| Proper Kit Synergy= A running issue with many marksmen kits is that their abilities tend to lack synergy, simply offering a bit of damage, crowd control, utility or mobility without interacting with each other in interesting ways. Marksmen with major hybrid scalings, such as or , tend to be the clearest examples of this, with effects that may share a theme, but don't really mesh too well with each other (this also leads to AP or AD builds on those champions often feeling incomplete either way, as there are "dead" effects on their kits that don't really do much at all). While not every champion needs to have as much synergy as, say, a mage combo, every kit needs to be internally consistent, and the best kits have abilities that build upon each other to lead to unique expressions of power and skill. This is an issue intrinsically tied to marksmen often not making interesting use of their stats, as well as them not expressing their niche in a truly unique way, so creating more kit synergy would allow for more interesting use of stats and set a clearer niche for each ADC. |-| AP Marksmen?= A handful of champions in League have the unique combination of marksman-type gameplay and AP scalings: is the most obvious example of this, and is a mage-marksman hybrid, but even mainstream marksmen like and fit the bill, with AP scalings of their own (which don't make them play all that differently from their AD builds), a primary contribution of magic damage, and ambiguous enough weaponry to be able to thematically fit either stat. These are all good examples of how the marksman role shouldn't be tied to a single stat or build, and gearing these champions to make the most of their AP potential could make those builds viable alternatives to "standard" AD marksmen. Ashe= ;Niche: The CC Marksman * For years, Ashe was only a semi-serious marksman pick, and her relatively recent rework took her kit and made it truly fun, engaging and interesting, significantly improving her previously boring laning phase, and giving her more options while keeping her simplicity. In this respect, the goal of the changes below isn't to drastically change her playstyle, but to take her transition further: a downside to her rework is that it implemented a set of fiddly, math-y passives to account for problems in itemization, i.e. random crit causing her to potentially one-shot enemies stunned by her ult, which is why her passive prevents her from critting and her Q requires some prep; with changes geared around an adjusted model of itemization (which includes a different way of increasing stats, hence the absurdly high ratios) and crit, these could disappear and render her kit even simpler to understand at a first glance. * Stats: ** Is now a manaless champion. ** Base attack damage reduced to 50 from . ** Attack damage growth removed. ** Attack range reduced to 550 from 600. * : ** Reworked: Ashe's basic attacks and damaging abilities their targets by level)}} for 2 seconds. * : ** Passive reworked: Ashe's causes her to focus her target for the next seconds, causing subsequent basic attacks against them to split into three spaced-out shots, each dealing AD}} physical damage, for a total of AD}} damage. Subsequent critical strikes reapply the effect, and Ashe can only focus one target at a time. ** Active removed. * : ** Cooldown increased to from . ** Damage changed to AD}} from . * : ** Damage type changed to physical from magic. ** Damage changed to from . |-| Draven= ;Niche: The Juggler * Draven's unique juggling mechanic is at the core of his gameplay, sustaining his potent autoattack damage and defining his attack paradigm, while also setting many opportunities for counterplay. However, his overall outputs don't really spring that far beyond lots of raw damage, which has cost him a fair bit of competitive popularity in the face of champions who brought more special team contributions while being overall easier to play. While Draven will always be mechanically difficult, some parts of his kit, like the constant reactivation of Q or W, are a bit too much busywork, and coupled with the feast-or-famine nature of his passive, means his performance is often way too unstable, with newer players struggling to deal major damage or keep up their axes while more experienced ones use him to bully enemies at all stages of the game. The goal of these changes is to streamline Draven in a manner that would give players more opportunities to catch up and maneuver more freely, and potentially increase the core depth of his axe play. * Stats: ** Is now a manaless champion. ** Base attack damage increased to 81 from 56. ** Attack damage growth increased to 7 from . ** Base attack speed increased to 1 from . ** Attack speed growth removed. * : ** Renamed to Spinning Axes. ** Reworked: Draven's basic attacks use an ammunition system, capping at 2, and each basic attack causes his axe to ricochet off of his target and land at a location determined by his movement, traveling for a total duration of }}. Catching an axe refills his ammunition by 1, and Draven generates an axe every seconds}}. * : ** Renamed to Axeplosion. ** Reworked into a passive: Draven's against large enemies deal of target's missing health}} bonus physical damage and generate 5 extra axes that ricochet off of the target in different directions. * : ** Reworked into a passive: catching an axe grants Draven bonus movement speed, decaying over 2 seconds. * : ** Reworked into a passive: Draven's axes enemies they pass through upon throw and return, dealing of the axe's damage if they were a basic attack. This does not affect Draven's main target. * : ** Now requires and consumes both axes, refilling Draven's axe reserves on return. ** Axes now deal damage separately. ** Damage per pass changed to per axe at all levels from , up to physical damage per axe. ** Damage reduction removed. |-| Ezreal= ;Niche: The Caster Carry * Though well-loved by the community as one of the most aim-based marksmen around, Ezreal's struggled as the game's landscape shifted to better favor tanks and marksmen with more consistent scalings. Though his AP playstyle enjoyed a bout of popularity due to his interaction with on-release , as a marksman he suffers from a lack of overall damage compared to most other ADCs, and as an AP assassin he just doesn't have that much to do after blowing his combo. Ez is mostly well-designed, but suffers a bit from flaws common to older AD/AP hybrid champions, as his passive isn't good at all on AP Ezreal (it's not that good on AD Ezreal either), and his W feels terrible on AD Ezreal (it's also not too spectacular even on his AP build). The goal of these changes is to concentrate Ezreal's power and allow both his playstyles to feel really good, while also putting a bit more emphasis on comboing his spells together (he is a caster marksman, after all) and occasionally putting himself close to his targets in-between powerful bursts of long-ranged damage. * : * Reworked: against enemy champions energize them for seconds, causing each of Ezreal's basic attacks and abilities against them to reduce his abilities' cooldowns by 1 second. * : * No longer reduces Ezreal's cooldowns on its own. * : ** Range increased to 1250 from 1000. ** Reworked: Ezreal fires a small pulse of energy that slowly travels in a line, passing through all enemies it runs through. If Ezreal hits the pulse with a basic attack or ability, it detonates, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies and critically striking them. * : ** ratio removed. ** Fires a second shot to detonate if it's within range. |-| Jhin= ;Niche: The Executioner Marksman * Jhin is an excellent champion. Despite having both extreme limits and extreme allowances on his power (he has no real way of escaping from all-out attacks, yet he also has the longest-ranged damaging basic ability in the game), he is both fun to play and fun to play against. So why the laundry list of changes? This mostly comes down to the more behind-the-scenes parts of his kit that involve a ton of math and fudging around, namely the implementation of his autoattack paradigm. Additionally, although his kit is phenomenally well-designed and thematically detailed (4 everywhere!), his Q stands out as the least fitting and interesting part of his kit, functioning mostly as a waveclear tool and direct nuke than as a true damage combo spell. The goal of these changes is to streamline Jhin's kit to have the same feel without resorting to weird stat limitations, as well as consolidate his kill-focused theme on some of his effects. * Stats: ** Base attack speed reduced to from ** Attack speed growth removed. ** Base attack damage reduced to 81 from 53. ** Attack damage growth increased to 7 from . * : ** Renamed to Death in Four Acts. ** Reworked: Jhin's basic attacks travel in a straight line without homing on their main target, passing through all enemies and damaging them until they reach their maximum range or an enemy champion that remains alive after the shot, applying on-hit effects to the first enemy hit. The fourth shot deals bonus damage, resetting upon not attacking for seconds. * : ** Renamed to Dancing Firework. ** Mana cost changed to 50 at all ranks from . ** Cooldown changed to from . ** Cooldown now begins after the ability's effects end. ** Reworked: Jhin shoots the target enemy, marking them for seconds. If the target dies while marked, the mark bounces to a nearby enemy, prioritizing champions. Jhin can use basic attacks against the target no matter how far away he is from them, and Dancing Death can bounce to up to 3 additional targets. ** Initial shot is now a basic attack, following the same rules of travel, attack delay and damage as Jhin's standard basic attacks. * : ** Reworked: Jhin fires a shot in the target direction, enemy champions hit for seconds if they have been with Jhin or his allies. ** Shot is now a basic attack, following the same rules of travel, attack delay, range and damage as Jhin's standard basic attacks. * : ** Mana cost removed. ** Trap carry capacity increased to 4 from 2. ** Jhin can now have only up to 4 dormant traps out on the field at once. ** changed to from 35% at all ranks. ** Damage type changed to physical from magic. ** Damage reduction removed. ** Damage reduced to from . ** Enemies who trigger a trap become immune to further traps while within the same area in the next seconds. * : ** Cooldown changed to from . ** Reworked: Jhin fully assembles his weapon, resetting , and channels for 10 seconds, fixing himself in place while opening up a wide view of his killing field. His next four basic attacks have their range increased and are activated by clicking in the target direction, dealing increased damage per . Reactivating Curtain Call ends the channel automatically. |-| Kalista= ;Niche: The Duo Marksman * Though only a relatively recent addition to the marksman roster, Kalista's already made herself infamous for the friction induced by her kit: her unique interactions with a specific ally are often needlessly frustrating and forceful, her abilities give her easy access to power most other champions have to work harder to earn in lesser amounts, in spite of said power being more appropriate for them than for her (e.g. Smiting jungle monsters), and her unique movement paradigm is implemented in such a way that she takes a lot of options away from her opponents in combat, especially melee champions with limited mobility and crowd control. On top of this, her identity's all over the place: despite having her character, lore and core set of mechanics firmly entrenched in heavy dependence upon an ally, Kalista's ended up becoming one of the most independent marksmen in the game, a strength reinforced by Riot themselves in recent changes. With a kit picked more for its competitive abuse potential than for its capacity for fun gameplay on all sides, and weaknesses that are either insignificant (e.g. her reliance on allies) or simply tacked on (e.g. basic attacks that scale less with AD), Kalista needs to be refitted into her intended thematic niche. The goal of these changes is to bring her ally synergy to the forefront in a manner that makes playing her, with her and against her truly fun, and to make her overall strengths and weaknesses a lot more pronounced and coherent. Additionally, the intent here is also to turn that synergy into windows of additional gameplay for both her and her Oathsworn, rather than just raw power, and thereby also allow her to have different, yet equally valuable, benefits from binding to different allies, beyond just her support. * Stats: ** Is now a manaless champion. ** Base attack speed increased to from . ** Attack speed growth increased to 4% from . * : ** Renamed to Oathsworn. *** Reworked: Upon right-clicking an allied champion, regardless of distance on the map, Kalista marks them for her death pact and causes the Oathsworn symbol to appear above them. If the ally accepts by clicking on the symbol within the next 5 seconds, they instantly become Oathsworn to Kalista for the rest of the game and prevent Kalista from selecting another Oathsworn. Otherwise, Kalista can try again on any allied champion. *** Animations removed. *** on self and ally removed. *** Quotes upon bonding are no longer global. *** removed. ** Whenever Kalista's Oathsworn damages a large unit while near her or her , or Kalista damages a large unit while near her Oathsworn, both enact Vengeance against the target for seconds, during which their basic attacks against them gain 350 bonus range and cause both of them to dash to their attack range from them. This effect can only occur once every seconds per target, and only one Vengeance can be active at a time. * : ** No longer carries stacks to the next target. ** Damage reduced to at all ranks from . ** Now applies on-hit effects. *** This includes dash. ** Now targets hit by for 2 seconds. * : ** Passives removed. ** Active cooldown removed. ** Recharge time reduced to from a static . ** Sentinel range changed to from 5000 at all ranks. ** Sentinels last seconds instead of a limited number of laps. ** Sentinels' movement speed now scales with Kalista's movement speed. ** Sentinel time reduced to from 4. * : ** Cooldown reduced to 8 at all ranks from . ** Active now only works on the target enemy, rather than all enemies in range. ** Cooldown now only applies per target. ** Kalista's Oathsworn now also applies spears. ** Spears last as long as Kalista or her Oathsworn remains with the target. ** Base damage per spear changed to from . ** Total damage capped at Smite's damage at the same level against non-champions. ** The first Rend stack no longer deals additional damage. ** removed. ** Cooldown refresh removed. ** An indicator appears above targets who can be killed by Rend. * : ** Active now reveals the mark above Kalista's Oathsworn and prompts them to click it to retract them into her, instead of automatically sucking them in. *** The mark requires the Oathsworn to be able to answer her call, and can therefore not be activated by them while they are rendered . ** Activation quotes are no longer global. ** duration reduced to from . |-| Kog'Maw= ;Niche: The Artillery Marksman * Kog'Maw has historically been both an extremely niche champion and a difficult marksman to balance. Part of this comes from his relative lack of "flashy" tools like mobility or hard crowd control, but the core of his issues come mostly from his extreme focus on rapid-fire, long-ranged damage: for a champion with on-demand artillery power, Koggles often ends up offering too little vulnerability when operating from the safety of his team's defenses, and never has any real reason to expose himself. His core damage engine also offers both very little in the way of interactive gameplay, giving him a ton of mostly safe, reliable, not-too-counterable power, or high moments, as his total damage output ends up being fairly homogenous. He also generally lacks agency, as he's mostly reliant on either his team to position well or the enemy to mess up to really get going, a problem made worse by an ultimate that, as an execute, cannot be fully used proactively to seek out targets. The goal of these changes is to allow Kog'Maw to satisfy his artillery marksman fantasy in a manner that is both fun to use and healthy to play against, mainly by adding a bit more unreliability to his kit and spreading his power around. Another goal is to push him towards full AP builds: as an AD champion, Koggles squanders the power of most of his abilities, and ends up turning mostly into a vehicle for on-hit items; by contrast, AP lets him have more meaningful windows of power and vulnerability, and gives him access to more interesting itemization options to help him out in a pinch ( , for example). * : ** Reworked: large enemies taken down by Kog'Maw drop a Morsel, which lasts on the ground for a few seconds. Kog'Maw can use a basic attack on a Morsel to gobble it up, restoring and , and cleansing him of stacks. * : ** Mana cost increased to 60 from 40. ** Passive removed. ** Resistance reduction removed. ** Base damage reduced to from . ** Enemies hit by Caustic Spittle take of target's maximum health}} bonus magic damage from champion basic attacks and for 4 seconds. * : ** Mana cost increased to 60 from 40. ** Cooldown changed to from 17 at all ranks. ** Reworked: Kog'Maw himself in place and for 6 seconds. Instead, right-clicking causes him to spew a projectile that lands at the target location within 750 units, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a small radius. Reactivating Bio-Arcane Barrage cancels the ability. * : ** reduced to from . ** now only applies while standing on the area. ** Area now and all enemies on it. * : ** Mana cost increased to 50 from 40. ** Damage changed to from . ** Damage is now doubled against enemies , and is unaffected otherwise. Category:Blog posts